Stephen W. Williams

Stephen William Williams
The Norman Arch at Strata Florida
Born	1837 Mellington, Montgomeryshire
Died	11 December 1899 Sandown, Isle of Wight
Nationality	Welsh
Alma mater	Stoke on Trent School of Art and Government School of Mines
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Buckland Hall, Breconshire.
Projects	The laying out of Llandrindod Wells. The Elam Valley Estates acquisition for the Birmingham Water Company.

Stephen W Williams or Stephen Williams (1837–1899) was a civil engineer and architect who worked mainly in Radnorshire and Breconshire, Wales. He was County Surveyor of Radnorshire from 1864–1899. He had offices at Rhayader and lived at Penralley House, Rhayader, He became a noted authority on the archaeology of the Cistercian Monasteries in Wales and undertook excavations at Strata Florida Abbey in Ceredigion, Abbey Cwm Hir in Radnorshire and Strata Marcella near Welshpool in Montgomeryshire. He was appointed High Sheriff of Radnorshire in 1899.

He was originally articled in 1852 to Samuel Bate of Trent Vale from November 1852 for five years. He was then employed as an engineer by a Mr Atkinson who was a sub-contractor to Benjamin Piercy and between 1858–1861 he was an engineer on the Vale of Clwyd Railway. He also worked as an assistant engineer on the Oswestry and Newtown Railway. It is suggested by Scourfield that Williams may have been responsible for the design of Welshpool railway station, which was completed in 1862.

In March 1861 he set up his own architectural practice in Rhayader. At this period he continued to undertake railway survey work in Wales and in parts of England In 1864 he was appointed county surveyor for Radnorshire. He was elected a FRIBA in 1886 and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 1890. He became company secretary and Surveyor for the Llandrindod Estate and Building Company. He was a man of wide interests and joined the 1st Herefordshire Rifle Volunteers in 1878. He set up the Rhayader Company of the Volunteers, with the rank of Captain and eventually he became Lieutenant Colonel in command of the entire battalion. In 1899 (the year of his death) he was the High Sheriff of Radnorshire.